Experiment: Give the always-delicious Apple Pie a molecular twist.
Why? To show how a simple molecular application can transform a dish completely. Same great flavors with a new, edgy, impressive look.
Instead of a traditional crust, we’ll be using lacy asiago crisps to give the dish its crunch and savory flavors. Who doesn’t love apples and cheese together?! Layered between the asiago crisps are caramelized apple rings stacked, and topped by the gold-flecked, delicate Goldshlager Orb. This unique and captivating orb is the molecular addition to this dish, and while it holds its shape well, once your fork digs in, the orb skin will pop and the cinnamon flavors left from the Goldshlager will drizzle down over your modern apple pie. 🙂
Ingredients (for serving size of 2):
Wedge of aged asiago cheese
2 apples
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cups Goldshlager (can be replaced with cinnamon apple cider or chai tea)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 grams Sodium Alginate
5 grams Calcium Lactate
optional: edible gold glitter (usually used for cupcakes)
Directions:
Sodium Alginate Bath- With a hand blender mix 2 cup filtered water with 5 grams Sodium Alginate, until powder is incorporated. (About 5 minutes) Pour into a deep, flat bottomed pan. Set aside for 20 minutes in the fridge. You want to use filtered water because most tap water contains added calcium, which will change the consistency of the Sodium Alginate bath, making it more viscous and harder for the orbs to stay condensed into spheres.
Asiago Crisp- finely grate the asiago and form into sparse round piles on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese is completely melted and before it browns. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.
Sauteed Apples: slice apples into rings and with a melon-baller, remove middle core section. Over medium heat in a large pan, mix together butter, brown sugar, vanilla bean paste, 1/2 cup Goldshlager, and cinnamon. Add in apple rings, and cook for 20-25 minutes or until semi-soft, flipping frequently.
Goldshlager Orb: Mix 1 and 1/2 cup Goldshlager with 5 grams Calcium Lactate in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Instantly remove from burner (unless you want to cook all the alcohol out of the Goldshlager). With a deep spoon (1/2 tsp or 1 tsp size usually works best) take a spoonful of the Goldshlager mixture and slowly submerge into the Sodium Alginate bath until surface of mixture is completely covered than slowly tip the forming orb out of the spoon. Make at least 4 more, so that you’ll have a choice of which orb to plate should 1 or 2 form less than perfect. Plus, you don’t want to waste that Goldshlager, do you?!? 😉 Let the orbs set for about 10 minutes.
Plating- Layer the asiago crisps and apple rings until a full apple is stacked on each plate. With a bored spoon, carefully transfer a Goldshlager Orb onto each modern apple pie. Drizzle extra sauce from caramelizing the apple around the outside of plate. Optional garnish: Add a little edible gold cupcake glitter to the top of the dish and serve up this impressive dessert!
Conclusion 1: Use a deep, flat bottomed pan when making the orbs so that they don’t slide down next to each other and stick before they finish forming their outer skin.
Conclusion 2: If you have or can find vanilla bean paste use that instead of vanilla extract, it’s much more flavorful and adds flecks of real vanilla into your sauce.
Conclusion 3: While cheddar cheese is most commonly paired with apples, use asiago for the crisps instead of cheddar. Cheddar melts differently and once cooled is more chewy and less crispy.
Breaking The Mold 